Scots Tory leadership hopeful says he still doesn’t support same-sex marriage

Scottish Conservative leadership candidate Murdo Fraser has told the Daily Record that he still does not support same-sex marriage after voting against it ten years ago. 

At his campaign launch in Perth, Fraser told the Scottish newspaper: “I’m a Christian. I take a particular view on what marriage should be. That’s how I voted, and I haven’t changed my mind on that.” 

Labour MSP Paul O’Kane, who is in a same sex marriage, criticised Fraser, saying: “The sad part is that someone could look at ten years of equal marriage and be unable to see the immense joy that those rights have brought for people who love one another, our families and friends. Well to borrow a phrase from across the pond: ‘we’re not going back’.”

Fraser is running against two other Scottish Conservative MSP candidates: Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay.

In terms of their respective stances on LGBTQ+ rights: Gallacher has spoken negatively about the work of LGBT Youth Scotland in the past, while Findlay has previously spoken out on behalf of a 14-year-old boy who was abducted and assaulted because he was gay and condemned the homophobic violence against him.

Murdo Fraser’s long anti-LGBTQ+ history

In 2012, he joined others in criticising a diversity survey that had been circulated by Police Scotland.

The four-page public-perception survey included questions such as: “What is your sexual orientation?” and “Do you currently, or have you ever, considered yourself as transgender?”

Murdo Fraser said: “Tayside Police are entitled to survey the public about their experiences of crime. But you have to question why they need to know the sexuality or ethnic origin of those responding.

“Whether folk consider themselves transgender must surely be irrelevant to their views on fighting crime.”

In 2014, Holyrood voted to allow gay couples to marry after similar legislation was approved by Westminster.

Throughout the introduction of marriage equality, Fraser consistently argued for anti-LGBTQ+ amendments to legislation. In effect, at times, he argued for a conscience clause by asking the Scottish Government to request an amendment to the Equality Act 2010, to ensure that “the protected characteristic of religion or belief, support for the current definition of marriage”.

In 2020, he led calls to restrict access to puberty blockers in Scotland, and in 2022 he voted against the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which passed by 86 votes to 39, following years of consultation, and aimed to make it easier for trans Scots to change the gender markers on their official documents, as well as open up the legal transition process to 16 and 17-year-olds for the first time.

However, the UK government used a Section 35 order to block the bill, and a subsequent court case brought by the Scottish government to challenge Westminster’s right to prevent the bill from becoming law failed.